Lost in Stereo
by M.B.Liddle
Summary: Anna and her older brother where lucky enough to survive the day of reckoning tucked away safe in a shelter Years later they have emerged to find a very different world from the one they left. Three part mini-series follows the pair through a small town
1. Part 1:Arrival

Lost in Stereo

A short Story by M.

Air rushed past the bullet as it flew. The small pellet of lead spun on its axis, buffeted ever so slightly by the strong wind and pouring rain. This made little difference to its inevitable path though. The bullet hit its target with a soft thump.

"Did you see me, did you see what I did?" Mike jabbered excitedly. He whirled to see his younger sister looking the other way. "Aww, come on Anna, you gotta admit that was pretty good."

"Whatever bro, keep your voice down." She sighed and brushed her short, red hair out of her eyes. Her brother could be so immature for a boy of 19. "Come on, we've got to get inside, I'm frikk'n soaked." Mike shook the water off his face.

"Alright, have it your way, I think the next town's just a couple of miles down the road." He pointed down the highway, past the endless line of abandoned cars.

"What'd the map call it again?" Anna asked

"Warren," Mike replied," Warren, Massachusetts." The two of them began trudging up the muddy ramp and onto the highway as the rain fell steadily. The dead zombie's brain matter flowed out and puddled briefly before it was washed away by the storm.

* * *

'Welcome to Warren' The decrepit sign hung gingerly from the twin posts that held it above the main road.

"Not much to look at is it?" Mike remarked, surveying the long, lonely main street.

"How about we focus less on what it look like and more on how we get into one of these buildings." Anna shivered in the rain.

"K, stay behind me." Mike drew the small pistol he had been using to defend them for the three weeks since they had left the safety of the old fallout shelter their youth group had ushered them into when the infection had begun years ago.

"Relax brother dearest, this town's empty."

"Says who?"

"Says the 'Evacuation Complete' poster pasted on every door." The young girl rolled her eyes and brushed her hair back.

"Right then, let's try these doors." The two wandered from door to door down the main road until they stood outside the door of a large, squat building on the corner. "Tucker's Hobby Shop" Mike read,"I think this is the place." He shouldered the door and ended up on his face when it swung open without resistance. "See, told you so." He jumped to his feet and went inside, making sure to sweep the room for lurking ghouls. Anna shut the door behind them and clicked the lock shut. They walked among the closely packed shelves full of hobby supplies. They passed model kits for planes, board games, fishing gear, and fine tools before Mike stopped the tour.

"The hunting section." He stated flatly, he failed to completely hide his smile. His sister rolled her eyes and held out her hand expectantly.

"Give me the gun and I'll finish checking the place out." She said exasperatedly, "go play with your toys." Mike tossed the pistol to his sister butt first. She snatched it deftly out of the air and thumbed the safety off. She left him in the hunting aisle and continued to the back of the store. She jumped at the pitter-patter of rain on carpet. A door swung silently on its hinge, open to the outside. "Definitely not good." She whispered to herself.

The ghoul struck fast, faster than it had any right to. It lurched from the shadows cast by the open door, knocking the gun from Anna's hands and throwing her to the floor. "Mike, get in here now!" Anna howled. She held the rotten ghoul from administering its fatal bite and struck at its head fruitlessly. When this failed to have any effect, she began scrabbling about frantically on the floor around her. She snatched up something from behind her head and brought it down on the zombie's skull. The ghoul went limp and emitted a rasping gurgle. Anna rolled the corpse off of her and propped herself up on her elbows. She looked at the gory frying pan and did a double take. "What is this even doing here?" she asked herself incredulously.

Mike came clattering into the back of the store bedecked in all manner of hunting gear. "You took your sweet time!" his sister yelled at him.

"Well I'm sorry your highness, but I can't watch you 24/7!"

"Yeah?," Anna slowly got her feet back under her, "How long'd it take you to put that get-up on _after_ you heard me yell?"

Mike looked sullenly at his shoes. "Minute, maybe two. Look, I thought you'd found zombies, had to be prepared."

"Good work Sherlock! Zombie!" the incensed 14 year-old motioned at the dead ghoul. She let up when it was clear pushing the issue wouldn't help anything. "Come on, you big lug, help me get this thing outside."

They rolled the decaying corpse out the back door and locked it tight behind them. Finishing the sweep of the store didn't take long. As night fell, the two siblings sat behind the cover of the thick wooden counter, munching on jerky they had managed to salvage two towns back.

"So what's the plan?" Anna asked between bites.

"Well, we can probably stay here a while, I saw a general store down a side street that should have some supplies. When stuff gets tight again we should try to get one of these cars going, I saw a gas station across the road on the way in."

"Sounds solid. Nighty night bro, dibs on second watch." With that, Anna dove into the heavy sleeping bag she had rescued from a mall in New Hampshire. Mike huffed angrily but resigned himself to watch the sun dip slowly through the big glass windows at the front of the store. Hours past in darkness as Mike grew ever more tired. He peeled his eyes away from the blackness outside lit only by dim and failing streetlights to look over the sleeping form of his sister.

"I promised you, dad, give me strength." He murmured to himself. Somewhere in the store an abandoned watch feebly buzzed. Midnight. Anna snorted and rolled over. She brought her eyes level with Mike's and cocked her eyebrow.

"Were you watching me? Creeper."

"Like I'd want to luck at your ugly mug." Mike shot back. He threw himself into his own sleeping bag. "Your watch."

End Part 1


	2. Part 2:Survival

Lost in Stereo Part II

A short story by M.

Rain pattered on the tin roof of Tucker's Hobby Shop. Outside a storm raged, lightning struck a lamp post across the street. The lights inside nearby building flared briefly to life. In the distance an odd whine ended in a muffled crash. Anna barely batted an eye. She turned away from the cracked front window and walked briskly towards the back of the store. She tossed aside the black curtain that hid her brother and herself from the dreary, grey world outside. Behind the curtain, her brother had tried to create a microcosm of comfort. "Anything cool out there? Mike asked from his position next to the pair's only candle, a technical manual for the latest Ford truck perched on his lap.

"A whole lot of nothing," his sister replied, "with extra boring drizzled on top. Just another storm." She sighed and slumped down into her bed. The bed had been salvaged from a furniture shop just down the road, and now stood at one end of the newly barricaded aisle of shelves, across from her brother's. Anna picked a can of fruit from the stash she had hidden on the bottom shelf and slurped it furtively. The two passed several hours in silence as the storm battered their shelter. "Hey bro, how long have we been cooped up here anyhow?"

"Two months, three days." Her brother responded, adding a dash to the calendar hung up by his chair.

"And how much longer do we have to stay?" Anna asked, somewhat impatiently.

"I just have to fix the truck, I'm almost done." Mike flicked through the manual, and the candle light sputtered and flared. Anna rose from her bed and padded other to the other end of the aisle. She slapped the manual out of her brother's hands and drove a finger into his breastbone.

"That's what you said last week, and I'm pretty sure you said it the week before that! What gives big brother!?"

Mike rose angrily. "Look here you!" he thundered, "I'm trying my very hardest, but this tupping rain makes it impossible to get anything done!" Anna reeled from this outburst, shocked at her brother's uncharacteristically terse retort. "Hey, woah, I'm sorry little sis'. Didn't mean to snap at you like that."

" 's okay." Anna shuffled away. Mike followed his sister and clapped her on the shoulders.

"Hey, it's my bad, it's just the truck and now this stupid, stupid rain, I kind of feel as if I'm failing you somehow, like I'm failing Dad…" he drifted off into silence. A moment later, he seemed to draw some manner of complacency from within himself. He put on a happy face for his sister. "But let's chill for a sec, the storm seems like it's about to break." Sure enough, the crashing outside ceased and light began to filter over the top of the curtain. Mike swept the blackout cover aside and left the store. Anna followed after retrieving the duo's pistol from its place on the wall by the counter.

"You forget this again." She said, and slapped the gun down into Mike's open palm.

"Knew I forgot something." Mike said and racked the slide dramatically. Anna chased down the ejected round.

"You know you don't have to do that _every, single, time._" She shot her brother a look. He only smiled in return.

* * *

Miles away, the survivors of the downed Air Force plane fought for their lives against a flock of rotten ghouls.

* * *

The storm had once again flooded the workspace around the old truck that inhabited the gas station across from Tucker's. Mike swore loudly and kicked open the vent they had gouged into the concrete. Water flowed out and into the street, flowing downhill past the police station. "We need to sort this out." Mike posited thoughtfully, "with the rain we've been getting lately, another week of this and the workshop'll be completely useless." He kicked a rotted, sodden rag out the front door to make his point.

"You better finish soon then, hmm…" Anna leaned against the white side of the truck and knocked on the side-paneling. The panel shook menacingly. Anna jumped away from the offending panel. Mike flipped up the engine cover and began the odious job of getting the vehicle operable again. The long years standing in the street of the small New England town had left the truck unable to move past the bounds of the garage it had been wheeled into the week after Mike and Anna had arrived. Mike swore loudly. He threw the manual across the room, where it flopped into a puddle. An awkward silence filled the garage. Mike leaned wearily against the front of the truck. He ground his palms into his eyes and let loose a long, angry sigh.

"Hey, chill a second," his sister moved to his side, "I know you, and this can't all be about the truck. Tell me what's up." Mike glared balefully at his sister for brief seconds, but the worried look in her eyes soon broke him down.

"It's about Dad. Do you remember when he put us in the shelter?"

Anna tried hard to think back. Slowly, the memory floated back to her. She had been much younger at the time, but had always prized herself for her ability to remember. Then, like a shawl pulled from before a window, the image flooded back to her.

* * *

She was crying. A lot of the children were crying, adults too. Mike had been crying. Mike never cried. He wasn't now, after his father had leaned in close to whisper…. something. Dad stood in front of them now. He stood straight and tall in his Air Force Reserve uniform. More officers were motioning for him to leave. She didn't want him too. Her father left, the door swung close and locked.

* * *

Anna came out of her daze with fresh tears in her eyes. She looked up at her bid brother. "What did he say?" she asked hoarsely.

"He told me that I would have to take his place. Be brave and strong and smart like him. I have t keep you safe 'till this is over." He clapped his sister on the shoulder. "I know I've been hard on you sometimes, and a little cranky, but that's how Dad was."

Anna shook her head and grasped the hand on her shoulder. "Dad knew more about planes than his own children. If you've been trying to protect me this whole time, then thank you, but I'm not just your kid sister anymore. I can help you, but you've gotta let me."

Her brother looked thoughtfully at her, then at the truck, then back to her. "Alright, here's what I need you to do…"

* * *

"You, Anna Sader, are quite the technician." Mike said affectionately as the two sat heavily in their respective chairs back in the hobby store.

"I told you, big bro, you just had to let me help, I'm pretty sure between us we can have that truck up and running by the end of the week!"

"You really think so, that's like three days away."

"I really do. Oh, and b t dubs, I fixed that radio we found." Anna hefted the old radio out from under the bottom shelf. It had become a tangled ball of wires and circuit board, but sure enough, when the knob was turned, a burst of sound escaped the little box. Anna tuned it until they managed to find a spot of clear air. A voice spoke. '…my regards to the wasteland. For years I have ministered to the empty air, and I regret to inform you that this will be my last broadcast. Thanks for listening. This is Fort Haven Radio, signing off.'

The Saders looked at each other with stunned looks on their faces. "There's someone out there." Mike said, "Quick! Check the rest of the dial." Anna twisted the knob through the layers of static. No one else was transmitting.

"That's good though, right? I mean, people are still out here after all this time." Anna looked at her brother expectantly.

"Yeah, yeah it is. And once we fix up the truck, we can join them.


	3. Part 3:Revival

Lost in Stereo Part III

A short story by M.

A choking cloud of smoke filled the garage, followed by a deep bass grumble. "Fantastic!" Mike whooped. His sister coughed furiously in the polluted air.

"Yeah, go team us, now let's open these doors before we end up choking to death." The two gave the doors a shove. Sunlight filtered through the escaping fumes as they drifted out onto the street. "What'd I say bro, it'd only take us two weeks."

"That's not what I remember you saying." Her brother clapped her on the back and smiled roguishly. Anna stuck her tongue out in response and turned to the stack of boxes and crates standing outside the garage's double doors.

"Right, all that's left now is to get these supplies on the truck. I'll start stacking if you pump the gas." Mike took the first crate off the top of the pile and peered in. "Mmm, peanut brittle."

"Did you seriously pack a whole crate with that crap, you know it won't keep once you open it."

"Woah, hey there little miss 'I packed a duffle bag full of beauty products,' the truck's got plenty of extra space and I get hungry _all the time._"

"Fine, have your nasty peanuts." His sister sighed and dragged the hastily patched hose in through the open door. "Do me a favor and hook that in." she said, and handed the hose off to her brother. Mike jammed the bent nozzle into the side of the truck until it sat nicely into the well. Shortly, the gurgling of fuel was heard in the hose. Anna came bounding in as Mike swung the basket of camping supplies into the truck bed. She took a hold of the nozzle and gently pulled the trigger.

"The sweetest music I've heard in a long time." Mike said, cocking his head to listen to the filling tank. The two continued to work in silence, until Anna broke it with a question.

"Hey Mike, remember that storm two weeks back, you know, when you flipped out at me?"

"Oh jeez," Mike stopped his work to look over at his sister, "didn't I already apologize, like, a billion times?"

"Oh, that's not what I was going to ask you about, it's just that something's been bugging me about something I heard that night." Mike ambled over and dragged up a box to act as a chair.

"What's up? Don't tell me you're still scared of thunder?"

"What? No! Well, maybe a little, but that's not the point, I heard something else." Anna sat across from Mike, perching on the lip of the truck bed.

"What kinda something else?" Mike asked. He unwrapped one of the bundles of brittle someone years ago had had the forethought to seal in a tin.

"Remember when Dad took us to work…"Anna's sentence was cut short by the moans of nearby zombies. Mike dropped his brittle and they both dove behind the cover of the truck. "That sounded close." Anna said, her voice no more than a whisper. Mike reached over the lip of the bed and hooked the strap of the hunting rifle they had been using with his thumb. The rifle clattered noisily to the ground in front of him. He snatched it up as the first zombie burst through the doorway, attracted by the noise. Mike shot without aiming, hitting the rotten thing in the shoulder. The zombie stumbled, its useless arm swinging freely, yet kept coming. Mike brought the rifle down on its head like a club. The ghoul dropped to the floor and lay still. Behind him, Anna squealed.

" Mike! Mike, there's another one!" he followed her pointing finger to the boarded window in the back. A ghoul had managed to force itself halfway through the boards, and now hung on the window ledge like a huge, diseased caricature of a crow. Mike tried to reload the rifle, but the bolt refused to pull back more than half-way.

"Fcking Jam!" he snarled as he wrestled with the gun. The zombie in the window flopped onto the floor inside the garage as yet another ghoul came in through the open doorway. Anna wrenched the pistol from the small of her back. In her panic, she blindly fired at the window- zombie as it writhed on the floor towards her. She screamed as searing pain arced up her neck from her shoulder. The third zombie had latched on to her from behind, and was now mauling her right arm. Anna yelled incoherently as her brother tore the zombie away and brutally beat its face in with the butt of the rifle. Anna fell to the ground and doubled up in pain.

"Aww shit, Anna are you okay?" Mike spun around and yanked the first aid kit out of one of the boxes. He kneeled next to his sister and dropped the ruined rifle on the ground beside them. Anna looked up at him as he began trying to patch her up. Her eyes fell on the gun.

"Nice job breaking it hero." She said. Mike almost cracked a smile.

"You are in no shape to crack jokes missy." Mike said in a strained voice. He spilled the whole bottle of Iodine onto her shoulder, staining her already ruined shirt brown.

"Your hands are shaking," Anna said, oddly calm and stoic, "here, let me." She winched as she took the gauze from Mike and pressed it hard to the wound. "I'm sorry, I should have been faster."

"Stop it, Anna, your freaking me out," Mike stared at the red-stained gauze with abject horror, "I mean you're bit and…" he trailed off into silence.

"Michael," Anna stood shakily. Mike snapped to attention at the sound of his full name, an echo of his military family. "You're not going to let me become one of those things." She extended her free arm. Mike stared at the grey metal in her hand.

"No, Anna, don't make me do this!" he staggered backwards, afraid to even contemplate the grim purpose in his sisters wobbly advance.

"Do it, Michael, I swear…."

"That'll be enough of that!" a new voice barked from outside. The siblings jumped at the sudden shout. A near middle aged man stepped through the open door. He was rather tall, easily a match to Mike's six feet, with a layer of stubble and short cropped graying hair. He torn field jacket and assault rifle attested to that. Mike recognized the rank patches as Air Force.

"Master Sergeant….Paris?" Mike asked, the name seeming familiar. Then it struck him. "Uncle Steve?"

"You got me kid," the sergeant slung the rifle, "and I barely recognized you, what with the dirt and blood. Well, the blood anyway, your old man never could keep you out of the muck."

"We have an uncle?" Anna asked, her face creased in a frown. Mike turned back to his sister.

"Well, not a real uncle. Uncle Steve is one of Dad's old military buddies. He used to stay with us all the time between deployments, but he didn't come over much after you were born." He turned back to Sergeant Paris, "But how did you recognize me? I couldn't have been more than five the last time I saw you."

"I met up with your old man after this shitstorm broke out. He showed me a picture of his son, all growed up, and his daughter, and told me if I ever found you that I was to get you to safety. Anyhow, I've been out here near two weeks…"

"It was you in that storm!" Anna blurted out, "Your plane I mean, I heard it go down."

"You've got sharp ears, young lady. And yes, we had an engine failure while hauling supplies up to our Northern base in The City. The last of my crew bought it at the town limits."

Anna collapsed, sliding down the side of the truck. Mike and Paris rushed to catch her before her head hit the ground. Anna murmured quietly to herself, a fever evident in her features. "Where was she bitten?" Paris asked, fishing around in a back pouch. Mike motioned to her shoulder, still visibly shaken. "Relax kid, while you two have been wandering about, our science types have been working their magic." He withdrew a long vial with a syringe tip at one end. The vial held a clear, green fluid. "So, how long has she been like this?"

"You saw her collapse just n…" Mike began.

"No, I mean how long since she was bitten."

"Oh, can't be more than fifteen minutes." Sergeant Paris swore under his breath. "What is it?" Mike asked worriedly.

"Well, you see, this anti-virus is only 30% effective, if administered right away. But after ten or so minutes… Well, the serum's far from perfect."

"Dose her anyway." Mike said frantically, "she's all I have left." Sergeant Paris shook his head slowly. He knelt beside the prone form of Anna and deftly flicked the cap off the syringe with his thumb.

"You might want to look away kid." He said gruffly. Mike clenched his eyes shut. He winced at the sound of metal forcefully puncturing skin, and the muffled sound of his sister's whimpering. "And now we wait." Paris discarded the reddened needle. "Help me get her up, we should know soon whether she'll make it or not."

The next half hour stretched on until it felt like days. Anna lay still on the open bed of the truck, a fresh bandage over her shoulder already tinged with pink. Steve stood guard just outside the garage, while Mike stood watch over his sister, the pistol clenched in a white-knuckled grip. As night began to fall, Anna stirred. Mike put a hand on her unwounded shoulder.

"You still alive in there?" he whispered. Anna looked about blearily. She tried to rise again. "Easy there, Uncle Steve says you've lost a lot of blood. Even if you hadn't been bitten, you shouldn't be moving about for a while.

"My head…" Anna was able to croak. Mike fetched her some water and returned to find her sitting up at the end of the truck. She grabbed the water from Mike's hand. "Stop looking at me like that, if I was going to zombie out on you, it would've happened already." Mike smiled for the first time since the attack. He punched his sister lightly. "Ow, watch it!" Anna raised her hand to protect her wound.

The noise attracted Steve's attention. "You're alive?" he asked simply.

"Don't act so surprised," Anna replied, "I've felt worse." Her childhood had been riddled with all types of odd maladies, but she had always been able to cope.

"Forgive my surprise," Steve scratched his head, "It's just that we've never had someone react to the anti-virus so long after being bitten."

"Maybe I'm just lucky." Anna laughed lightly, until she felt a twinge in her shoulder.

"Maybe." Mike looked thoughtful. "Now that the crisis has been averted, we should probably think of bugging out of here." Sergeant Paris nodded in agreement.

"I've got a pretty good map of the area," Steve reached into one of the pockets of his jacket, "shows all the known concentrations of zombie from here to Boston."

"You drive," Mike helped his sister down from the truck and closed up the bed. Steve hopped into the cab and started the engine. It growled to life, this time without the choking cloud of smoke. Mike gave Anna a hand up into the back seat. He jumped in the other side as Paris backed the truck out of the garage. The siblings bid goodbye to Tucker's as the truck lumbered down the main street. Anna had fallen asleep on Mike's shoulder by the time they reached the town limits. Mike looked down at his younger sister and smiled. As the truck passed the old town sign, its single bolt gave a last, dejected moan, falling to the ground with a muted crash.

The End

* * *

Author's Notes:

First, I'd like to thank all of you who read my story, especially those who took the time to review it.

I hope you stick around for the next installment of this series, Birds of a Feather


End file.
